Outside Source
Silva (17-3) is rallying for a featherweight title shot against Alexander Volkanovski. However, perennial contender Movsar Evloev recently maintained his undefeated record by handing Lerone Murphy his only professional loss at UFC London last weekend. That did not deter Silva, who was in attendance at UFC London, from walking up to UFC executiveHunter Campbell with a contract.
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Meanwhile, Volkanovski has clearly expressed his preference to defend his title against Evloev rather than Silva. Volkanovski notes that he has two wins over Diego Lopes, who defeated Silva via a technical knockout last year. Volkanovski believes Silva is yet to prove himself, and a win over the Brazilian won’t add much to his legacy compared to a win over Evloev.
However, Silva hasn’t given up hope of earning the next title shot. Silva argues that the division will stall if Evloev becomes the champion, given the Russian’s history of fight cancellations. Silva wants Volkanovski to engage in a fan-friendly fight with him instead of defending takedowns against a wrestler like Evloev. Silva also vows to leave the UFC if he loses against Volkanovski.
‘Stop All the BS’
“If Movsar wins the division just comes to a halt… If you think about Movsar, 11 fights canceled, what is that gonna do?” Silva said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “If this guy wins the belt, the belt’s just gonna go away… [Volkanovski] is afraid of facing me. What does he want to do? Defend against takedowns for 25 minutes?… Let’s just stop all the BS. Let’s think straight about it. Let’s go in and exchange some strikes. I’ll say more: if Volkanovski wins, I’ll leave the UFC. That’s what I’ll say.”
While Evloev (20-0) has had 11 canceled fights in the UFC, most of them were due to factors out of his control. Undefeated in 10 UFC fights, Evloev has defeated the likes of Murphy, Aljamain Sterling, Arnold Allen and Lopes. Meanwhile, Silva (17-3) has finished all six of his UFC wins while only losing to Lopes. “Lord” has notably beaten Allen, Bryce Mitchell and Drew Dober.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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